Drafting board with flexible displaceable cover



Nov. 25, 1958 P. 1.. PAULSEN ETAL 2,861,386

DRAF'TING BOARD WITH FLEXIBLE DISPLACEABLE COVER Filed Oct. 7, 1957 29f]; X M 'PL n\ 1 INVENTOR. g, 1 Pauli-2 421149912 35 Cizzr/esYflfilzzzzazzzz Uni States DRAFTING BOARD WITH FLEXIBLE DISPLACEABLECOVER Application October 7, 1957, Serial No. 683,564

1 Claim. (Cl. 45-131) This invention relates to drafting boardimprovement and aims to provide a more attractive and more eflicientboard for the. making of drawings and the like by industrial draftsmen,engineers, or other technical personnel.

Heretofore it'has been customary for a draftsman to lay the drawingpaper directly on the drafting board of natural wood color, but morerecently it has been found that better drawings may be made more quicklyif the drawing paper be superimposed on a surface such as linoleum, butan objection to covering the board with linoleum is that if it isattached by mechanical means such as staples it is apt to wringle orbuckle while if cemented by adhesive to the board warping of the boardis likely to occur and the surface of the board may be permanentlymarred by the adhesive, it being common practice to roughen the boardsurface by coarse sand paper to improve the bond. It is moreover,diflicult if not impossible to spread the adhesive continuously, therebyresulting in spotty gluing which aggravates buckling of the linoleum andwarping of the board. Mechanical attachments such as staples, tacks,etc. also make permanent marks on the otherwise smooth surface of theboard which are objectionable. If adhesive is used it must be thoroughlyremoved from the board before the linoleum can be replaced.

An important aspect of the present invention is the provision of meansfor removably attaching the linoleum to the board in such a manner thatthe board proper is separate from such attaching means so as not to besubject to warping or disfigurement while at the same time the linoleumsheet is maintained square with the board without wrinkling or buckling,the linoleum being carried by the fastening means in an extendedposition along the rear edge of the board.

It has been furthermore true of drawing boards in the past that thenatural Wood coloring of the board has placed eyestrain on the draftsmanand it is an additional object of the present invention to provide thedrafting board with a tinted coloring that is easy and pleasant on theeyes of the draftsman and thereby avoids glare and eye fatigue whilecontributing to esthetic comfort, with the desirable result of enhancingthe speed and efficiency of the draftsmans work. This is true not onlyof the face of the board but also of the reverse side thereof, since theboards are frequently used in a vertical position and in groups wherethe reverse side is visible to the adjacent draftsman. By tintedcoloring it is here to be understood to mean so-called pastel shadesparticularly such as pale green, for example, Which is known to beespecially restful to the eyes while at the same time enhancing theesthetic effect of the appearance of the drafting board.

The foregoing, and other objects and advantages, will be apparent fromthe following description, taken together with the accompanying drawing,showing an illustrative embodiment of the invention, and in whichdrawmgsatet

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of a drafting board and basetherefor with the present invention associated therewith;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 22 of Fig.1; and

F Fig. 3 is a similar section taken on the line 3-3 of Referring indetail to the illustrative construction shown in the drawing, thedrafting table used for purposes of illustration of an application ofthe present invention thereto is in general given the numeral 11 and asshown in Froelich Patent No. 2,356,924 of August 29, 1944 for AdjustableStand for Draftsman or the Like incorporates a base 12 in the form of atable or desk and a strut mechanism 13 mounted thereon for verticalmovement and on which is rotatively supported a drafting board 14. Thedrafting board here illustrated at 14, as best seen in Fig. 2, is madeof a core 15 and laminated upper and lower plies 16 and 17 respectively,the board being edged on each side by a steel channel cleat 18 as shownin De Lisle Patent No. 2,244,391 of June 3, 1941, to reinforce the boardand enhance resistance to warpage. The board could be of solid wood. Abrake release foot lever 13a controls brake mechanism (not shown) forholding the strut device 13-13 in selective positions.

In accordance with the present invention, for superposition upon theupper surface 19 of the drafting board 14 there is here shown a flexiblesheet 20 of linoleum or the like for covering the board to provide adesirable working surface for the draftsmans tools and pencils, thelinoleum providing a surface not too hard for this purpose while beinguniformly smooth.

Following the present invention, the linoleum sheet 20 is shown attachedto a separable carrier or strip 21 that is detachably mounted on therear edge of the'drawing board 14 as by screws 22 spaced along the rearedge of the board. Linoleum sheet 20 may be secured to the carrier strip21 in any suitable manner, preferably by an adhesive such as glue orcement, as at 23 along the upper edge of the carrier strip 21 and on theextreme rear underface margin 24 of the linoleum. The linoleum sheet isthus readily replaceable by the user, should it become excessively wornor for other reasons unsuitable for further use, by first detaching thecarrier 21 from the board after removing the screws 22 and then securinga new linoleum sheet to the carrier strip.

The strip 21 is advantageously say A of an inch wide and extends thelength of the board, overlapping the ends of cleats 18. The steel cleats18 desirably terminate short of the carrier strip 21, as best seen inFig. 1, so as to avoid interference with the latter.

So constructed and arranged, the linoleum sheet 20 may be laid over theupper surface 19 of the drawing board to lie there smoothly'and evenlyto provide a working drawing surface for the draftsman.

Further in accordance with thepresent invention, the upper surface 19 ofthe drawing board, together with, if desired, other suitable parts ofthe board and table 12, including the underface of the board, areadvantageously colored a pastel color, such as light green, which iseasy on the eyes. If the draftsman prefers to work directly on thesurface of the board he may readily remove the linoleum sheet entirelyby removing the screws 22, the

linoleum sheet coming off .with the carrier strip 21 with which itremains associated ready for easy replacement on the board. When thelinoleum sheet is so removed, if desired, the restful, eye-easing,colored surface of the drawing board is exposed.

At its forward margin the-drawing board 14 is shown provided with apencil trough 25, here illustrated as of Wood, secured by screws 26 thatpass upwardly from the Patented Nov. 25, 1958 bottom surface of thetrough into the drawing board,

and screws 27 that pass transversely from the inner wall 28 of thetrough into the board. The forward wall 29 of the trough is shown ,withan inwardly overhanging lip or shoulder 30 that restrains pencils andthe like placed in the interior 31 of the trough from rolling outtherefrom when the drawing board 14 is raised, say, to a verticalposition on the strut 13 as described-in the Froelich patent abovereferred to. Pencil trough 25 may be further supported by metalbracket32 which'has an upwardly oifset plate portion 33 through whichscrews 34 pass into the board and a downwardly offset portion 35 thatunderlies the trough 25 and-through which a screw 36 passes into theboard. There may be two or more of the brackets '32spaced'longitudinally along the front.

edge of the board 14. The linoleum sheet 20 when superposed on the boardterminates short of the pencil trough.

It is to be understood that the term linoleurn is intended to includeother flexible materials such as vinyl compositions or the like. 7

Such changes may be made as fall within the scope of the appended claimwithout departing from the invention.

What is here claimed is:

In a drafting board with displaceable cover, the combination with arigid board of wood material, of a relatively narrow rigid carrier stripdetachably secured to the rear edge of said board and extending the fulllength of said edge, screw means passing directly through the carrierstrip into the edge of the board for removably retaining the carrierstrip secured to the board, whereby said carrier strip is extraneous ofthe board, and a flexible sheet of linoleum glued to said carrier stripthroughout its length but otherwise unsecured to said board; wherebysaid flexible sheet may be draped over approximately the entire area ofthe board to lie snugly on the.

upper surface thereto to provide a working surface thereon or may bepartially or wholly displaced from said surface to expose the saidsurface for alternative working use, said sheet terminating slightlyshort of the forward edge of the board and having a free flexible marginthereat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

